Have you ever felt like you are just on the edge of destruction? Where all the forces of the world are set to destroy you and no matter how many tears you cry you find yourself backed against a wall awaiting the final swing of the enemies sword to end it all? This might be financial, spiritual, physical, psychological, social, or any other category of your life. The point is that although you believe deep down that things *should* get better, but you find yourself at the end.
I have.
But today my hope was renewed as I was reading the book of Esther. Today God opened my eyes and showed me that sometimes He allows us to get right against the wall before He steps in and does His work on our enemies. I say ‘our’ enemies, because if we are friends with God (this is possible through Jesus Christ) then our enemies are also God’s enemies.
If you are struggling as I am in this way, you really need to read the book of Esther. I would like to rename the book to something like “The Jew’s 11th Hour Bailout” or “The Miraculous Change of Tides” or ‘From Ok to Horrible to Great.” The other scripture that goes really well with this book is Ecclesiastes 7:8 “The end of a thing is better than its begginning” because the actual condition of the Jews (including Esther and Mordecai) was much better than before the nasty episode.
A quick summary of the book goes like this: Esther, a Jew (an orphan at that), miraculously ended up queen to Ahasueras (spelling?) and well favoured. Haman hated Mordecai, but he was righteous and did good towards the King. Haman planned to kill Mordecai and every Jew within the king’s kingdom. Not only was he murderous, he was also arrogant. He went around bragging about how much the king likes him and how great his job was, etc. The king trusted him to do what was best and Haman took that trust and used it to execute his own selfish (and evil) purposes. Sounds like a few CEOs and politicians, but I digress… But the Lord God Almighty doesn’t let this kind of plan go forever. And Esther is an example where God didn’t let it go *at all*. As soon as Haman had uttered the speedy instruction to kill all the Jews, twice as fast as that, the Lord had turned it around and terminated the plan. Although lots of justice happened, the key point is this and I want you to remember this and I’m going to re-read this blog post myself to remember it:
Haman was hung on the the gallows upon which he intended to hang Mordecai.
Read that again. That’s a serious revelation if you get it.
Not only will God protect us from this bad thing that seems to be hopelessly coming upon us, but He has the power to totally *reverse* the wicked plan and expose it.
So if wicked is planned against you, or you are being persecuted unjustly, the God of Justice is able to help.
And let’s not forget our friend Job, too, while we are at it. His story is a little different, but very much related. He was destroyed, bad things had already happened to him, he was left weeping and angry, but God totally rebuilt what he had and his final position was greater than the one he was in before the fire.
Be encouraged. Our tears have not been wasted. Our prayers have not bounced back off the ceiling. The God that we serve is a Mighty God and will do what He will do and He desires to do a mighty work in our situation. Hang in there. His timing is not our timing but he will leave us with joy and rejoicing.
